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As negotiations continued, a group of House Democrats got the ball rolling on a discharge petition to bring a clean debt ceiling bill to the floor, and several Senate Democrats implored Biden to use the 14th Amendment to bypass Republicans and protect the full faith and credit of the United States.
Did Biden lose the high ground? Are reckless Republicans who endangered the economy getting away with their reprehensible stunt?
For starters, Biden never said he wouldn’t negotiate with Republicans. He never said a debt ceiling bill had to pass before negotiations commenced. For months, he said that he would not negotiate over the debt ceiling but he would talk about spending cuts. He insisted Republicans put forth their own budget — as he did — to lay out the parties’ contrasting visions. Only when McCarthy brought up and passed a spending bill did the president agree to serious negotiations.
The White House insists Republicans moved toward the president in finally passing a spending plan. (The president’s aides pointed to a similar negotiation in 2011 for simultaneous budget negotiations before the debt ceiling was finally raised.) Certainly, the White House did flush out Republicans, although the latter voted on a spending plan, not a complete budget, which would have demonstrated the full extent of the GOP’s fiscal irresponsibility.
That said, the White House’s rhetoric early on did sound more intransigent than was feasible given the reality of divided government. Put differently: Biden might have avoided the perception of a climb down had he said, “We can talk about spending, but at the end of the day I’ll use whatever means necessary to protect the economy and prevent default.” With a default deadline coming as early as June 1, it is essential to reach a deal promptly to prevent a market meltdown.
In a New York Times op-ed, Laurence H. Tribe cogently argued the 14th Amendment approach is valid. He wrote, “The right question is whether Congress — after passing the spending bills that created these debts in the first place — can invoke an arbitrary dollar limit to force the president and his administration to do its bidding.” He answered: “There is only one right answer to that question, and it is no.”
Given the choice between allowing Congress to abrogate the full-faith-and-credit provision or using presidential authority to implement spending bills already passed, Tribe argued that the latter is the constitutionally rational option.
Soon after Tribe’s piece was published, Biden gave a nod to the 14th Amendment approach. Biden could make his position crystal clear by reciting Tribe’s proposed statement: “I’m bound by my oath to preserve and protect the Constitution to prevent the country from defaulting on its debts.”
Some Democrats would prefer to ignore Republicans entirely, doing away with the perennial hostage-taking and encouraging Biden to exercise his presidential power to deny Republicans any advantage. That, however, includes significant risks, including the loss of support among the usual suspects, notably Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). White House aides point out that a legal challenge over the 14th Amendment would be inevitable, and while the legal battle played out, the markets would be in turmoil. Indeed, the White House detected some troubling movement in the bond markets recently, though that calmed down once reports of constructive negotiations emerged.
The true test will come if and when a default deal materializes. If Biden avoids making cuts, essentially agreeing to a continuing resolution for the remainder of his term with some window dressing (e.g., coronavirus funds claw back) but no implementation of counterproductive work requirements for benefit programs, it would amount to a huge win for the president and for Democrats. A bipartisan deal that leaves his agenda in place and puts to bed the default issue for the remainder of his term would give him the best outcome, given that Republicans do, after all, control the House.
If, however, a “deal” included, for example, those untenable work requirements or rolled back aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act, a Democratic backlash would surely ensue, risking the default Biden had hoped to avoid.
Biden benefits from playing good cop, bad cop. While his emissaries talk to Republicans (who now understand their outlandish budget cuts aren’t happening), a discharge position, a proposal to invoke the 14th Amendment and pressure the 18 Republicans from districts Biden won in 2020 can ensure that Biden need not give away much. That gives him the best chance to avoid imperiling a stunning economic recovery or rewarding Republicans for their temper tantrum.
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